QuotesCharles Dickens quotes
Charles Dickens (1812 to 1870) was the most widely read English novelist of the Victorian age. He wrote about poverty, kindness and second chances. Each line below names the book it comes from.
Quotations
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843)I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843)No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for any one else.
Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend (1865)Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)My advice is, never do to-morrow what you can do to-day. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!
Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850)Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861)Please, sir, I want some more.
Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1838)
Nothing matches. Try a shorter word, or choose All.
Where each line comes from in the story
- "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" opens A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris at the time of the French Revolution. The sentence goes on through a whole paragraph of opposites.
- "It is a far, far better thing that I do..." closes the same novel. They are the last thoughts of Sydney Carton, who gives his life to save another man.
- "I will honour Christmas in my heart" is the promise of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge after the visit of the last spirit in A Christmas Carol.
- "Annual income twenty pounds..." is Mr Micawber's advice to young David Copperfield. In the old money, "nineteen nineteen six" means nineteen pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, which is just sixpence less than twenty pounds. Spend a little less than you earn and you are happy. Spend a little more and you are miserable.
- "Procrastination is the thief of time" is also Micawber. He is quoting a line from the poet Edward Young's Night-Thoughts (1742), and adding "Collar him!" in his own style.
- "Please, sir, I want some more" is the hungry orphan Oliver Twist asking for a second helping of gruel in the workhouse.
Why Dickens is quoted so much
Dickens published most of his novels in weekly or monthly parts, and readers on both sides of the Atlantic waited for each one. He wrote about debt, child labour, bad schools and the law's delays, and he had known some of these at first hand: as a boy he worked in a factory while his father was in a debtors' prison. That experience is behind Micawber's sum about income and spending.
Using these lines
The Micawber line is the best short lesson on budgeting in English literature, and suits any talk on saving. The Christmas Carol lines suit December assemblies and greetings. The opening of A Tale of Two Cities is often borrowed to describe any time of sharp contrasts. Name the novel and year when you quote, and keep "to-morrow" and "to-day" spelt with their old hyphens if you are copying exactly.
Good to know
- Mr Micawber, who gives the famous advice on income and spending in David Copperfield, is himself always in debt. Dickens enjoyed the joke.